Best Year for Games

[Wolf Kanno]

I've seen some people talk about how 2016 is looking to be a really great year for gaming, but what year do you feel was the best year of game releases?

[Sephex]

I don't know, man. Probably somewhere in mid 90s.

[Ayen]

Let's see, 98 had Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Pokemon Red/Blue in America, WCWnWo Revenge, other stuff.

I'm gonna say 98 until someone makes an argument for a better year.

[Pheesh]

Gonna have to go 2002, purely because of Kingdom Hearts. But Vice City and Warcraft 3 are pretty good backing titles.

[Old Manus]

Briefly looking down the Wikipedia page, 1999 had:

Silent Hill
Simcity 3000
Final Fantasy VIII
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Counter Strike
System Shock 2
Resident Evil 3
Age of Empires 2
Unreal Tournament
Quake III

It also had fucking Ape Escape which means it is automatically the GOAT

[Bubba]

I've looked ahead and the answer is actually 2022.

Metal Gear 7: Snake is still alive
Uncharted 6: Sully finally dies
Final Fantasy XV-4: Noctis Grows Chest Hair
Pokémon: Some colour they haven't used yet.
Fifa 22 - Same as the previous seven incarnations
Zelda: Link Goes Apes**t
Mario: Jumps around again
Call of Duty: Advanced Black Ops Warfare World at War

[Fynn]

Idk, I really don't go for years, especially since I usually get more games that had already been released before, rather than day-one or something. I mean, I got FFXII day-one, and Bravely Default just after day-one, but normally I get games like two years after they release, so I can't really judge the years when I enjoyed those games because that's usually not the year they were released.

[Pumpkin]

I don't pay much attention to years but honestly 2016 is shaping up to be a good one. I'd have to list all of the games I like, find their release dates, and see if one year stands out as having the most games I enjoy, but I'm not going to do that. I do know that 2016 has added a lot of games to my wish list and that's mostly just released up to April or something, so it is shaping up to be the most exciting and promising year in recent memory. It all depends on how good the games actually are though :monster:

[Night Fury]

2010 had some awesome games I enjoyed. Mass Effect 2, Heartgold and Soulsilver, and Bioshock 2. But honestly, ME2 makes that whole year a winner!

[Fynn]

I don't pay much attention to years but honestly 2016 is shaping up to be a good one. I'd have to list all of the games I like, find their release dates, and see if one year stands out as having the most games I enjoy, but I'm not going to do that. I do know that 2016 has added a lot of games to my wish list and that's mostly just released up to April or something, so it is shaping up to be the most exciting and promising year in recent memory. It all depends on how good the games actually are though :monster:

This. There's FF XV an Persona 5 coming out, as Formy mentioned, and then there's SMT IV: Final, and FF Explorers is already out, and now Bravely Second this month and FE: Fates later, so I'm pretty happy this year looks so promising. Isn't project Setsuna coming out soon too?

[Shauna]

Late to the party but - knock it off with all the bickering. I will delete any more posts that are off topic.

[Midgar Mist]

The PS2 Era....maybe 2005-6 i think had a lot of great releases (but i cant commit to that cos 1997 saw the release of FF7 so arrgh tough question)

Ummm...hope my rambling doesn't class as off topic.........I'm a good girl me.....(well you know sorta kinda like :-) )

[Formalhaut]

I'll just restate what I said before, then.

I've never really considered years when it comes to gaming. I've always been rather late to the party in getting new consoles, so I never play games in the year they were released, typically. It's also rather subjective: if you're a fan of one genre, you wouldn't think of years when none of that genre really stood out as astounding, and so on. I've never really thought about the issue, basically.

If I had to pick a year, probably 2016. It's the first year I can remember being excited for more than one game. We have Persona 5, FFXV, and as Fynn reminds me, SMT: IV Final. Most years, there's one game that I'm excited for, and that's about it. When Dragon Age: Inquisition came out, it was pretty much the only 'new game' of that year I was excited for.

[FFNut]

I have no clue. So many games I love spread through from 1985 on until now. I feel like I'll say something and then the next post I'll be ohh no I change my vote to that, or maybe that.

[Wolf Kanno]

You know people, it doesn't necessarily have to be the year you experienced it. As long as the game released that year, I honestly don't care if you played it ten years later. :p

[Fynn]

You know people, it doesn't necessarily have to be the year you experienced it. As long as the game released that year, I honestly don't care if you played it ten years later. :p

Well, yeah, but it still colors your perception of that game or that year. Like, let's say there was a year - say 2012 - you played a bunch of games that you loved, Some were released in 1997, one is from 1985, and then there's three from 2010 and one from 2012. The most awesome game from that bunch to you was the 1997 one, so you'd obviously say 1997 is the best, right? But it turns out there are no other cool games for you from that year, and you know like only one or two games from every other year, and still you feel like 2012 was great to you because you played all those games.

I don't mean to derail this thread, but this just explains my way of thinking in this regard, and why it may be hard to decide on one specific year :p

[Formalhaut]

You know people, it doesn't necessarily have to be the year you experienced it. As long as the game released that year, I honestly don't care if you played it ten years later. :p

Well, yeah, but it still colors your perception of that game or that year. Like, let's say there was a year - say 2012 - you played a bunch of games that you loved, Some were released in 1997, one is from 1985, and then there's three from 2010 and one from 2012. The most awesome game from that bunch to you was the 1997 one, so you'd obviously say 1997 is the best, right? But it turns out there are no other cool games for you from that year, and you know like only one or two games from every other year, and still you feel like 2012 was great to you because you played all those games.

I don't mean to derail this thread, but this just explains my way of thinking in this regard, and why it may be hard to decide on one specific year :p

Pretty much this for me as well. I mean, if I combed through a list of all the release dates for all the major games, I could (after some time) figure out which year had the most amount of games which I would like to approve of. I'd still say that I'd rather choose the year I played the games as the more obvious 'my year of gaming'. I only really started following video game releases for series I'm interested in since 2012 anyway. I haven't a clue when most games were released.

[Pike]

Not sure if I can narrow it down to just one year but if I was going to pick an era for best PC games I'd say 1998-2002ish. SMAC, Starcraft, Deus Ex, Morrowind, all soooorts of good stuff. Actually seeing as those are my four favorite games of all time, well.

For console games I'd probably go with mid-90s? But that might be the nostalgia talking.

[Madame Adequate]

Not sure if I can narrow it down to just one year but if I was going to pick an era for best PC games I'd say 1998-2002ish. SMAC, Starcraft, Deus Ex, Morrowind, all soooorts of good stuff. Actually seeing as those are my four favorite games of all time, well.

For console games I'd probably go with mid-90s? But that might be the nostalgia talking.

Baldur's Gate 1 + 2, Red Alert 2, Fallout 2, Grim Fandango, Thief, Planescape: Torment, Diablo 2, Age of Empires 2, Homeworld, Rollercoaster Tycoon, No One Lives Forever, System Shock 2, Freespace 2, The Sims, Warcraft 3, the list goes on.

[Bright Shield]

2000, followed by 1998.

[TheKeybasHKey]

2011 beacuse Skylanders and Pokémon Black and White Version and don't forget The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword.

[Loony BoB]

This is so freaking hard, because

1996
Resident Evil - PSX, 1996
The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis - PC, 1996
Mario Kart 64 - N64, 1996
Civilization II - PC, 1996
Crash Bandicoot - PSX, 1996
Pokémon Red & Blue (JP release)

1997
Final Fantasy VII - PSX, 1997
Age of Empires - PC, 1997
GoldenEye 007 - N64, 1997
Grandia - PSX, 1997
Alundra - PSX, 1997
Worms 2 - PC, 1997
Crash Bandicoot 2 - PSX, 1997

1999
The Longest Journey - PC, 1999
Final Fantasy VIII - PSX, 1999
Warzone 2100 - PSX, 1999
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - PC, 1999
Pokémon Red & Blue (PAL release)

2002
Warcraft III - PC, 2002
The Mark of Kri - PS2, 2002
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - PC, 2002
Gothic II - PC, 2002
TimeSplitters 2 - PS2, 2002

2006
Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress - PC, 2006
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - PC, 2006
Final Fantasy XII - PS2, 2006
Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3, 2006
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - PC, 2006

2007
Mass Effect - 360, 2007
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - PS3, 2007
Halo 3 - 360, 2007
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - PSP, 2007
Crysis - PC, 2007
Lost Odyssey - 360, 2007

2009
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - PS3, 2009
Flower - PS3, 2009
Final Fantasy XIII - PS3, 2009
Batman: Arkham Asylum - PS3, 2009
The Sims 3 - PC, 2009
Football Manager 2010 - PC, 2009

2012
Far Cry 3 - PS3, 2012
Journey - PS3, 2012
Frog Fractions - PC, 2012
XCOM: Enemy Unknown - PC, 2012
Mass Effect 3 - 360, 2012
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - PS3, 2012

Weirdly, and to my surprise, I'm thinking 1999 or 2012 might edge it. 2007's a good shout, too. It surprises me particularly how few of my absolute favourite games came out in a single year in the mid-90's. However, overall, 1996-2001 remains the most consistently awesome period of gaming for me.

[Ayen]

Not sure if I can narrow it down to just one year but if I was going to pick an era for best PC games I'd say 1998-2002ish. SMAC, Starcraft, Deus Ex, Morrowind, all soooorts of good stuff. Actually seeing as those are my four favorite games of all time, well.

For console games I'd probably go with mid-90s? But that might be the nostalgia talking.

I forgot StarCraft also came out in 98.

Yeah, I'm sticking with that year.

[Old Manus]

The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis - PC, 1996bruh

[Loony BoB]

The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis - PC, 1996bruh
inorite, epic

[Sephex]

just gonna burn the whole thing down. stare at the ashes and never look back

[Rocket Edge]

1999 in my opinion, for the games people already mentioned. Dungeon Keeper 2, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Warzone 2100, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Age of Empires II, Syphon Filter, were also released that year and those are just the games of the top of my head.

[FFNut]

Really I can't decide. To many good games around. Loony BoB gave a great list where you go ohh snap that year, then you continue looking and it ohh no that one. For me I have no clue.